Nightwing's Reckoning
by YJ4life
Summary: Started writing this cause I was bored, it's about my favorite character Nightwing, hope you enjoy! Rated T for now, just to be safe for the future.
1. Chapter 1

I don't anyone/thing

First FanFic so don't kill me.

11:00 PM EDT Mt. Justice

NIGHTWING'S POV

"Recognized: Nightwing B01"

I stepped out of the zeta tube and into the deserted room in front of me. I can't say that I was happy that no one was monitoring the computer, but I wasn't complaining about the peace and quiet. I'd rather not be bombarded with questions and concerns. I headed towards my 'room' at the mountain. I didn't keep anything in there, just a bunch of workout clothes, but it was still technically mine. Once I entered my room I peeled off my costume, which was now covered in blood and sticking to my body.

After that whole ordeal was over I hopped into the shower and turned it on full heat. Now one thing to understand about the mountain's showers is that superheroes, especially non-metas all get the need for a scorching hot shower, and thanks to the funding of a certain billionaire *cough* Bruce *cough* we get just that.

The hot water felt amazing on my sore muscles and did a really good job at cleaning all of my wounds. I looked at the water spiraling down the drain and it was literally blood red. It was equal parts hypnotizing and disgusting. The crimson liquid still oozing out of my cuts. I climbed out of the shower and pulled on some boxers. I looked in the mirror, it wasn't pretty. I had cuts and bruises all over my body, some of which were still bleeding. I sighed and got out my first aid kit.

Starting with the deepest cuts I cleaned and sewed my wounds, one by one. About an hour later, when I had finally finished, I pulled on a pair of sweatpants and a shirt and stepped out into the hall. I headed towards the kitchen and almost walked into Cassie.

"Hey Cassie," I sighed.

"Oh hey," she replied, "what are you doing up?"

"I could ask you the same thing," I said.

"True," she responded sheepishly. "But what are you doing up? I mean...you haven't been in the mountain in forever."

"I have been here," I said defensively, "I just come late at night, and I will be here tomorrow...or rather today to train the team."

"Really!" She screamed excitedly.

"Yeah but keep it on the down-low because it's going to be a surprise," I said. It was true, it was a surprise because I wasn't planning on training the team today.

10:00 AM EDT Mt. Justice

The team was gathered in the training room awaiting Black Canary. I could see that Cassie was having a particularity difficult time containing her excitement. I should have just kept my mouth shut. I stepped onto the training pad, behind everyone. "Who's ready to get training!" I said enthusiastically. I was met with gasps of surprise, curses, and suspicious looks. Barbra was the first to break out of her stupor.

"YOU IDIOT!" She screamed. Her outburst was soon followed by more from Jaime, Lag'aan, and Tim.

Jaime shouted, "Esse! What are you doing here?"

"Neptune's beard," said Lag'aan, "you almost gave me a heart attack. I didn't need to read Connor's mind to know what that he was thinking 'If only'.

Tim just whispered, "Batman's gonna kill you." He was probably right, but quite frankly I didn't care.  
I began to lead the training exercise by having them spar with each other, without powers.

I started with Garfield and Bart. Bart started to close in on Garfield and attempted to throw a punch. Garfield blocked the punch and responded with a sweeping kick. Bart jumped over Garfield's leg and unsuccessfully tried to block the incoming punch that came with it.  
At this point, I heard a loud gasp behind me and turned to see who had made it. Unfortunately for Bart he also turned and offered an opening to Garfield. Seconds later Impulse: Fail rang throughout the room. The origin of the gasp turned out to be Black Canary. She barely made a sound when she said, "Your back." She then promptly left the room, leaving everyone in a daze of shock.

"Um...okay, not bad, there has definitely been an improvement in both of you since I left. Really the only things would be to observe your enemy longer before closing in, because it allows you to predict and counteract their attacks, and Impulse don't get distracted, even when sparring in the cave."  
Before I could even get out another word "Recognized: Batman 02" sounded throughout the cave. ' 'Oh crap' I thought. Batman was definitely going to kill me, even if it was against his moral code.

"Nightwing," Batman said in his low, gruff voice, "get over here now." I left the training room and cautiously proceeded to the hall.  
"Where have you been?" Batman stated stoically, "You haven't reported in for a month."

"I was busy," I stated sharply.

"Doing what?" He ground out.

"Why do you care?" I asked.

"I don't," he growled.

"You never have!" I screamed.

"You have never given me a reason to!" He responded.

"Just like I never gave you a reason to adopt me, huh?" I started. He seemed slightly taken aback by this but I didn't stop. "No, you never did care quite enough. You cared enough about Jason though. Adopted him the same day you found him! Gave him the title you ripped from me because that one night I wasn't fast enough. My mother gave me that name, you had no right to take it from me and give it to someone else! You didn't even tell me about Jason for two months! I found out from Alfred! No, I never was good enough for you, if I was then you would have adopted me, especially before my 18th birthday, you know when it matters, but I guess I'll just always by your ward, the ward who just wasn't good enough to love!"

Me and my big, fat mouth.

"If that is how you feel then why don't you just leave?" Batman practically spit.

"Maybe I will!" I shouted. I walked to the zeta beams and typed in the code for Blüdhaven. 'What the HELL is wrong with you Grayson' I thought to myself as the light from the beams transported me to my warehouse/living area.

Imagine my surprise when the next day my comm rang with an urgent call for me to lead the team's mission.


	2. Chapter 2

Once again I own nobody (duh :l )

When I stepped through the zeta tube I was shocked to see the original seven leaguers besides Martian Manhunter all standing there waiting for me.

"Where is the team, Superman?" I said, purposely avoiding Bruce, "I was called in to help with a mission." Superman looked very awkward and nervous. "Where is the team," I said with a little more force.

"The team isn't here," he said.

"What do you mean they aren't here," I said, my voice becoming noticeably less friendly. Superman seemed slightly taken aback by this and didn't speak again.

"Dick-"

"Nightwing," I corrected.

"Yes uh, Nightwing, the team isn't here because they're stuck in another simulation." Flash said shamefully. I stiffened at this news, remembering the lasting effects it had had on me and the rest of the team.

"Who thought this was a good idea?" I demanded.

"We all did." Wonder Woman said as she hung her head down low.

"Surely the original team fought against this." I said, speaking more out loud then to her.

"They were on board with it because there wasn't a telepath in the situation to take control this time," Aquaman said.

"So what's the problem."

"We don't know, they just aren't waking up," Wonder Woman answered.

"What do you want me to do about it," I said.

"Go inside the simulation and try to take them out of it," Green Lantern spoke.

"Why not Miss Martian," I reasoned. They seriously didn't want me to try to fix this, did they?

"Because of the way we set up the simulation," Batman's gruff voice finally added.

"which are..."

"We triggered the situation with your death," Batman said with his monotone voice. I had to take a moment to comprehend what that meant, and once I did I became upset.

"Why would you do this?" I said with my best Batman impression. Apparently I was good at it because several of the leaguers flinched.

"We wanted a situation that would trigger the most emotion," Wonder Woman said, "we are deeply sorry if we upset you by doing this"

I started to see the reason behind this and shifted back into my congenial self. "Tell me you at least gave me a cool death?" I said in a jokingly manner. I definitely saw Batman's mouth twitch into even more of a frown (if that is even possible). Flash however gave a snort of laughter before becoming professional again.

"Okay what do we need to do." I said, thinking I was ready for what was about to happen.

Okay I know this is short but I'm just trying to get something out there because I was surprised that people were actually reading this. If you don't like this direction for the story please let me know because I had a couple other ideas.


	3. Chapter 3

I️ know it's been forever buttttt I'm back and I'm sorry

Once again, unsurprisingly I️ don't own anything except the idea or whatever

The leaguers led me into the main room of the mountain and what I️ saw I️ almost couldn't comprehend. The members of the team were laying in beds formatted in a circle lining the room. Their bodies were motionless and pale. They looked dead. I️ thought, _is this what we looked like, all sickly and lifeless_. In the center of the room was J'onn with his arms outstretched and his eyes glowing his signature scarlet. I️ snapped out of my stupor when Bruce approached me.

"Nightwing, the plan is to put you in the simulation and explain to them that it's not real so that they will snap out of it and return to normal"

"I️ don't understand," I️ started, "wont telling them it's fake, especially if I'm supposed to be dead, put them in shock?"

Clark spoke up. "Well, we're hoping no, but there's no guarantee."

"Where's Connor and M'gann, wouldn't it be better for someone they don't think is dead to do this?"

"Well actually," Barry piped up, "having someone come back to life is more convincing then two teammates with no obvious reason to believe it's fake."

"Okay then, guess I️ have no choice," I️ said nervously, beginning to regret getting up this morning.

I️ laid down on one of the empty beds and let down the walls in my mind, extending it out to J'onn. I️ felt my lungs grow tight as if I️ had forgotten how to breathe and saw a bright blinding light until I️ got pulled under and felt a cool release and snap into reality. The whole feeling is a sensation of drowning as you hand your mind over to someone and let them bend and warp it to their will.

They didn't give me a cool death

In fact they gave me quite possibly the worst death ever. During a mission I️ get hit in the head by a lucky shot with my own goddamn eskrima stick and I️ fall and crack my neck. Nothing heroic or brave, just some thug with a lucky shot. I'll be having a long talk with whoever thought that was a good idea.

But that's not what matters. What matters is finding a group of brainwashed kids and bringing them back to the real world.

First thing on the list, find them.

I know it's kinda short but I just wanted to write something since I've been gone so long. Let me know what you think should happen next :)


	4. Chapter 4

It's finally spring break and I can finally focus and put aside everything else. I can't lie, I couldn't really figure out how to continue this story. I had action and drama and stuff planned but it kinda fell through. If you want to see an alternate storyline or ending leave a comment and I'll try my best to write one.

As I was pulled deeper into to simulation I could see everything that has already happened, like one of those annoying 'previously on' segments on TV. It's like "I already know what's happing, I've been binge-watching this on Netflix for the past 18 hours!" Am I right? But that's not important. I saw my death, which we already talked about and I saw the team mourn. It was so surreal. I had seen them mourn Artemis, but it was so different. They seemed lost, broken even, but I guess that's to be expected, most of the newbies hadn't even known Artemis before that day and that had ended up to be fake anyways. I also saw the team split up.

The bats went to Gotham to grieve in the way only a bat can, the senior members went to the watchtower to discuss the future with the league, and the newbies were left to fend for themselves. For those with lives outside of the mountain that meant that they lived (or at least tried to live) their lives normally. For those like impulse that lived at the mountain they were just stuck there with nothing to do. With the League otherwise occupied the team was spiraling, fast. Then, somehow, it got worse.

Batman sent them on a mission. A really quick, easy stealth mission to get them back into the swing of things. Seems easy right? Well think again, 'cause without clear leadership or the help of the senior members the mission went horribly wrong. They ended up being caught and had to bite off more than they could chew. Tim was now in the medical ward with a semi-serious injury and pretty much everyone else had some sort of mild injury as well.

That's when I showed up. In the mountain watching them all grieve. Their brains were just so convinced it was real that they couldn't be pulled out of it. I had to think of a plan. I couldn't just hop down from the rafters and say, "Hey! I'm not dead, this is actually a simulation!" That would put them in shock. I had to be more subtle, or did I? Maybe that shock was all I needed.

Later that night when they were all 'asleep' I did in fact jump down from the rafters. I made myself at home, literally. I made some coffee and had some cereal. Then I went to the computer, did some hacking, and purposely triggered a firewall alarm. "Intruder alert, mountain on lockdown," rang throughout the cave. Perfect. That meant the zeta beams were shut off and so was the computer and garage systems. A mere seconds later, as I expected, several members of the team came in, ready to attack the intruder and defend the cave. They came rushing at me and then stopped. They saw me relaxed, drinking some coffee and eating some cereal.

"Nightwing?" Barbra was the first to talk, "I-is that really you?"

"Yeah why wouldn't it be?" I said with a mouth full of cereal. Tears started streaming down her pallid cheeks.

"How can we be sure it's him?" Garfield asked.

"Yeah wait a second, you're supposed to be dead!" She stated as her tears stopped. I laughed.

"Why would I be dead guys! That's ridiculous!"

"Only the real Nightwing would know the answer to this question" Barbra said as she leaned in to my ear. "Who's Batman?" She whispered, cocking an eyebrow and crossing her arms. I chuckled, typical Babs, asking the question she knew I couldn't answer.

I whispered back, "Tsk tsk Babs, you know I can't answer that." I used her nickname because that way she would know that it was actually me. She squealed with joy.

"Oh my god it really is you!" By this time the rest of the team had filed in to see was all the ruckus was about. They were equally as shocked, but were quickly filled in by the rest of the group. Then Bart suddenly dropped to the floor, clutching his head. He was soon followed by the others doing the same. I panicked, wondering briefly if my plan had backfired, but then one by one they faded and disappeared. I smiled and quickly faded too.

I came to on the same bed I had gone under in. I was surrounded by the smiling members of the league as the team all slowly stirred as well. I smiled and sighed. Somehow I had managed to do it. I had missed the team, and seemed the team had missed me as well. One things for sure, I'll be hanging around for a while.

Once again if you guys are unhappy with this leave a comment and I'll write an alternate ending. I was dabbling in some other plot lines and would love to try those out to. Just let me know if you have any suggestions or anything :)


End file.
